Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, originally published as Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (ドラゴンボールZ Sparking! METEOR, Doragon Bōru Zetto Supākingu! Meteo?) in Japan, is the third installment in the Budokai Tenkaichi series. The game is available on both Sony's PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's Wii. The game was released in Japan on October 4, 2007, in North America on November 13, 2007 and in Europe on November 9, 2007 for the PlayStation 2 (the Wii version was released in Japan on October 4, 2007, in North America on December 3, 2007, and in Europe on February 15, 2008).

Tenkaichi 3 features over 150 characters (161 characters to be precise), the largest character roster in any Dragon Ball Z game, as well as one of the largest rosters in any fighting game. Ryo Mito once stated that the game would feature never-before-seen characters made exclusively for the game, although the only exclusive characters were the saiyans turning into Great Apes.

Several new notable features include: Battle Replay, night and day stages, the Wii's online capability, and Disc Fusion. Battle Replay allows players to capture their favorite fights and save them to an SD card to view later on. Night and day stages allow for more accurate battles in Dragon Ball History, as well as the ability to transform into a Great Ape by using the moon. There are also several other time differences, such as dawn and afternoon. Not all stages provide different times. You can also change the aura of your character. The Wii version features online multiplayer capability, the first game in the series to have such a feature. Players can fight against anyone from around the globe with a ranking system showing the player's current standing compared to anyone else who has played online. As compensation for the lack of online, Spike has added a new "Disc Fusion System" to the PlayStation 2 version. Inserting a Tenkaichi 1 or Tenkaichi 2 disc during play unlocks Ultimate Battle or Ultimate Battle Z, modes featured in the respective games needed to unlock them. The game also supports 480p for both the Wii and the PlayStation 2 versions.

Other features in the game includes more combo attacks or character specific combos, the Blast Combos, and the Z Burst Dash. The additional combo attacks will be able to help chain in more attacks for more damage and longer combos. The Blast Combos are normal combos used in the game, however by inputting the another button into the attack will allow you to use a blast attack for extra damage. Depending on the moves of the character you might not be able to use this feat such as Videl or Hercule. The Z Burst Dash is much faster and more evasive version of the Dragon Dash. It allows the user to get behind the opponent at high speeds for either a strike or to avoid a blast 2 attack. The drawback to this technique is that it will rapidly drain you of energy.